


Planetary Discrepancies

by porcia_catonis



Series: The Secret History, Modernized [1]
Category: Secret History - Donna Tartt
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-27
Updated: 2014-10-27
Packaged: 2018-02-22 20:58:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2521538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/porcia_catonis/pseuds/porcia_catonis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Richard, checking his phone out of boredom, comes across not only the news of a certain planet being reinstated, but of just how alien his own friend might be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Planetary Discrepancies

**Author's Note:**

> I'm in love, as of late, with all the fun ideas for Modern TSH AU's on Tumblr, and have decided I'm probably going to write bunches of them. So, I figured I may as well kick them off with a fun little idea I've had bouncing around in my head for a while. Don't worry, I'll get into Angst and Sex and Murder before you know it.

It was going to be some time before food was ready, so Charles said, while he and Camilla pranced in and out of the kitchen between chatting, ever finding some additional thing to titter on about or to exclaim; and preparing the Sunday meal that had become customary despite disastrous beginnings--on Richard's part, at least. Bunny, meanwhile, had been taking any opportunity either to beg, rather doglike, for food or, again like a dog, to slip into the kitchen and return with some stolen morsel.

Which meant that by and large, Richard Papen was caught between Henry and Francis, as per usual. This de facto may have been quite enjoyable, had his remaining companions not fast proven themselves to be the world's most boring entertainers ever when combined. 

"No, that's not a true Roman piece of architecture," Henry was scowling, leaning over a picture of some sorts--something with pillars, which seemed to be an illustration. "Whoever drew this used a neoclassical reference image," he shook his head with some disapproval, passing it back to Francis. Richard could see now it was an illustration in a book, now, bound shiny with a bookstore-new sticker still on the spine. 

"Firstly, I was trying to show you the passage  _beneath_  the drawing, and  _secondly,_ I'm not even sure how you reached that conclusion," Francis frowned, his lips so bright on pale skin that it looked like he was pouting. 

Henry continued on and Francis followed, soon losing Richard both insofar as knowledge and interest could lend themselves. Three weeks, this made now, in a row, where this was a pattern. Generally, dinner on Sunday was dismal at best until dinner was actually on the table. Thank god, at least, he had enough service on his phone to scroll about a bit. His Facebook, left open carelessly, appeared to be blowing up, the same article linked everywhere Richard looked.

Clicking on it, he found himself smiling. Seven years prior, he'd been an extraordinarily bored thirteen year old, suddenly crushed by the erasure of his favorite tiny, lonely planet being demoted. Perhaps that's what one got being a tiny, lonely child.

"Richard?" Francis cut in, noticing him. "If I can ask, why is it you've zoned off to stare at your thighs fondly?"

Richard felt his face grow hot as Francis looked somewhat pleased with himself. "Er, no, that's not it. Just an interesting thing on the web, that's all," he cleared his throat, promising.

"What, then?" Francis leaned forward on the table, pushing the book that had a moment ago been the very center of contention aside. By now, Bunny had been fully shooed out of the kitchen, making way for both twins who had started to carry in the trays of food--scarcer than they might have been thanks to the culprit in the room. The table was nearly set and full by the time Richard could explain.

"Oh, they've just decided that Pluto is a planet again," Richard explained with a shrug. He remembered his parents firm 'we don't care' as a child, the last time this had come up a bit too sharply. It felt as though the tiny Richard--one who'd just then begun to call himself such--had just won a great personal victory with all his 'Vive la Pluto' enthusiasm of early teenage years. 

"What?" Henry stared at him blankly. He adjusted his spectacles and, by the slight parting of his lips and microscopically small squint to his eyes, he was likely bewildered--this was, Richard deemed, as demonstrative as Henry generally got, after all.

"Yeah." He nodded. "They've made it a planet again."

"Ha! Knew they'd do that," Bunny cut in, already through a mouthful of bread, earning him a halfhearted glare from Charles, "Can't mess with the solar system and all."

"No, that's not what I meant." Said Henry. "When was it ever  _not_ a planet? That's ridiculous. It hasn't stopped existing."

"No, not quite," Camilla, slightly less embarrassingly misinformed said, "They said it was too small years ago, Henry. I remember it making headlines."

"Good for Pluto, though, I guess." Francis shrugged, swishing something about in his glass.

Henry went on to continue asking how on earth one can just decide a mass of rock is any less planet than the next, or why one would remove the God of Wealth and Death's namesake from the solar system and Richard had to stop listening for the sake of continuing to take Henry seriously.

"I swear, you're  _from_ Pluto," He groaned to himself, dropping his head to the table, trying not to laugh with little success. He never did manage to fear Henry quite the same as he often did previously after that. To know that this genius king of sorts lived so isolated from all outside his narrow little interest, and that he met the modern world with a good deal of childlike alarm made Richard something like endeared to him, alongside the sense of Wonder the man already evoked in Hampden's newer resident. Martian or not, Henry Winter still remained a marvel to Richard so long as he could remember.


End file.
